What lies beneath
by GwenuitHolland
Summary: How can you find what lies beneath someone's stony expression? After Wally's death, Artemis and Dick are hurt badly, but they won't talk about it. Zatanna finds herself very worried, especially for her ex-boyfriend Dick Grayson. Artemis tells her to let it go, but this leads Zatanna to accidentally sending herself into a fight that isn't hers. A chalant story. Please review! :)
1. Prologue

**AN: Hey guys, this idea just occurred to me after watching Young Justice to the end. I know that there are a lot of chalant haters out there because it isn't in the comics.  
Well I see it this way: The thing I hate is 'out of characters' and from the things I read about Zatanna, she is not at all a different person, only in this version she ends up with Dick instead of Bruce, big deal!**

**Chalant is just a fun idea from the makers of Young Justice and it could have been in the comics, only it didn't. So I will stick to chalant, but I don't hate Barbara, I like her just fine :) **

**Sorry, I just had to say this, now on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the written characters.**

wiki/List_of_Zatanna's_spells

** What lies beneath**

** Prologue **

Silence fell in the Watchtower, no one spoke or dared to speak in this moment of silence in honour of Wally West aka Kid Flash. It was just one hour after the accident, but no one seemed to notice that time went on, in their heads they were still at the moment of Artemis and Kaldur's return, ignorant of the danger that would cost them their friend.  
Zatanna kept herself busy by looking at the earth below, but in truth she didn't even see it. She was deep in thought and suddenly Artemis stood next to her, the person who lost more today than a friend, she lost her soul-mate.

"Hey." She said grimly to let Zatanna know of her presence.

"I'm so sorry." Said Zatanna softly as she turned to face her friend. It was an useless comment, but she had to say it.

"Thanks for the necklace though." It was clear Artemis didn't want to talk about Wally and Zatanna accepted that.

"Oh yeah, you're welcome."

"Here, I don't know whether it can still be of use, now that it's broken." Artemis retrieved the broken necklace with the gold pendant and gave it to its maker. Zatanna took it and stuffed it into her pocket.

"What made you make it without questioning its purpose?" wanted Artemis to know. She kept her voice low and casual, but the hurt she was feeling was very clear.

"I did question it, but Dick was very clear about its need to remain a secret."

"And you swallowed that?"

"Well it is not odd for Dick to keep secrets, he is Batman's adoptive son after all and he kept that from us for a long time.

"Yeah, but you're in The League." Suddenly the old headstrong Artemis spoke, she couldn't believe her best friend to have been so obedient and she wanted answers.

"Look, there's a reason why Dick never joint The League. He wants to be able to do things his way. You know that he never wanted to be leader. I suspect he will let Kaldur take over again and he will disappear for a while." Zatanna looked behind her, to a group of man who were talking a few feet away. Dick Grayson, in full Nightwing costume was talking to Robin and Mal. She knew her ex-boyfriend well and she had learned his tragic past. He had suffered great losses in his live and now he had lost his best friend. She knew the feeling after losing her father to Dr. Fate, the thought of Artemis dead was unbearable, but this time it was even worse. Wally was really gone. He had never been much to Zatanna, to her he had been just a teammate, the guy who's always there, but to Dick Wally meant the world. Dick would disappear, Zatanna was sure of it, he would need time to find himself again and blow off some steam and then, maybe he would come back and talk to her again.

"Zatanna." Artemis woke her up from her thoughts and she turned round to see her friend's rather stern face.

"You're not still thinking about him, aren't you?" it was weird to hear Artemis talk about Dick with this much disapproval, she and Dick always had a good relationship, but this dislike was not personal.

"You didn't kiss him, did you?"  
Zatanna didn't answer, but her silence told Artemis enough.

"When?" Artemis demanded.

"On his birthday, on the first day at The League."

"So that makes it right? You guys broke up for a reason!"

"I know Artemis." Said Zatanna and she turned fully towards her friend again, but Artemis was not satisfied.

"It was simple Zatanna, it was Dick or The League and you choose The League."

"I wasn't much of a choice, we both wanted to keep our hero-lives."

"So you going to wait for him? You need to move on with your live and quit looking back. Dick did!"

Zatanna didn't reply, Artemis had figures her out completely, but she didn't want to admit it. She had thought she moved on when she joined The League, do her job and even go on mission with him as an ordinary teammate. Now that she knew that Dick would be completely out of reach soon, made her very scared and desperate. It made the longing feeling she once had for him kick in again.

"You know what it means if you get back together. You will be unconsciously worried about each other during crucial times. It will be a matter of time before you do something stupid." Artemis' voice shook for a moment and she closed her eyes to calm herself, but as she opened them to look at Zatanna they were dead serious.

"I don't think it will be so different from now." Said Zatanna flatly. She knew Dick could look after himself and she was sure he thought the same thing about her. It was this insecurity about not being together that made her have these reckless urges to run after him to make sure of his safety. She smiled to herself for being so pathetic.

"I'm serious Zatanna." Artemis sighed irritated. "But it's your life, I won't say anymore I promise."

" That's ok Artemis, I know you mean well." Zatanna smiled to her reassuringly. "I will be there for you too, if you ever need me."

"Thanks." Said Artemis, but she didn't look at Zatanna, instead she stared at the left side of her feet. Without another word she left. Zatanna assumed she would go home to give in to her tears. True enough she heard not long after that thought the zeta-tube pronounce Artemis' new name Tigress and number.

**AN: This conversation has been long on my mind and I had to write it down, but if you write something down you to do more, so I thought of this story, I hope you like it and please review!**


	2. Empty expressions

Empty expressions

Again they all had gathered in the Watchtower, all draped in black and with their eyes closed. They listened quietly to Flash's speech about his nephew.  
Zatanna stood at the end of the front row, between the old members of the original Young Justice. On the platform right next to Flash stood Batman. Like their protégés had been the best of friends, Batman and Flash also shared a special bound, even though that was not always as clear.  
"Wally was always straight forward and complained a lot, but he always had my back and he also had great friends upon whom he could count on." Spoke Flash.

Zatanna heard Flash say those words and for the first time that evening she felt tears rolling over her cheeks. She remembered how annoyed she got whenever he made ignorant remarks, waving away her painful feelings of loss, but now she remembered that Wally had been the one who knew of Dick's past and of his pain and that he kept that quiet out of respect for his friend. Wally had never been ignorant, she knew now, he just tried to make the best of live.

A slim hand closed around hers and Zatanna looked to her left and saw Artemis look back at her out of the corner of her eye. Although her face was stony and hard to read, there was some softness in her way she looked at Zatanna and it calmed the latter down. She gave Artemis a watery smile and gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. Tears continued to fall down her face. Zatanna was never good in crying in silence for she never could stop her hiccoughs, but today that didn't matter, everyone is allowed to cry at a funeral.  
Flash had finished his speech and now the dreaded moment had arrived for Dr. Fate placed himself behind the high desk in the middle of the platform that was usually meant for speeches (for the few times that was necessary in the tower where no press could enter).

"We are gathered here today to honour Kid Flash." Said Dr. Fate importantly. "Great and loyal protégé of Flash. Thanks to his sacrifice, our mission against the Endgame was a success."

Zatanna looked away. Dr. Fate didn't even let her father attend this funeral and here he was in his body talking about success.

Another much larger hand found hers and took it without permission. This strong and warm hand belonged to Dick Grayson who stood on her right. This time however Zatanna didn't look at her companion, she knew what she would see, a stony face like Artemis but with even less emotion. A true face from a boy who had been trained by Batman since the age of nine.

Dr. Fate's speech went on, but the words were merely a buzz in Zatanna's ears. Then it was Artemis' turn to speak and Zatanna realized that she was no longer holding her hand and she looked up. Artemis stood behind the high desk, her face was no longer stony, but painfully grim. She inhaled a deep shivering breath and began to speak in the same forced voice in which she had spoken yesterday.

"Wally was a great friend. He always acted to what he fought was right and he knew how to forgive and how to fix things. Wally remained positive until the very end and that's something we all needed." A silence fell in which she took another shivering breath. "Wally , I'm glad you forgave me for my mistakes and for the years I got to spend with you, it never should have ended."

With that said, she descended the platform and returned to her place in the front row. Her eyes were misty and fixed upon the ground. All was quiet and sad music began to play. Zatanna knew that someone from The League would speak soon now that Kaldur and Artemis had returned and Dick would leave his position as team-leader, but now was the time for mourning. Zatanna looked around, she saw M'gann crying on Superboy's shoulder, L'gann patted her uncomfortably on her head. Connor's expression was grim and deep in thoughts. Jaime and Tim stood silently at Cassie's side while she let her tears flow down her nose and cheeks. In that same row Garfield and Bart stood silently next to each other, communicating their common sorrow in long stares at each other followed by a deep sigh. Meanwhile the original Justice League members whispered comforting words to a beaten down Flash. Everyone had someone they could lean on and seek comfort from. Zatanna felt Dick's warm hand around hers and it felt good and familiar to stand here with him.

Suddenly he let go off her hand and made to leave. It seemed he had realized what he was doing. In an impulse Zatanna took his hand and made him turn towards her. He looked surprised. Like everyone else, he wasn't wearing his mask tonight and Zatanna could gaze into his brilliant blue eyes. In that brief moment, she wanted to tell him everything, that she understood his pain, that he didn't have to leave, that he was allowed to cry and that she always be there for him. Behind the surprise in his eyes lay only emptiness, the emptiness that is caused by sorrow and the knowledge to be alone. Batman had the same emptiness in his eyes after Jason Todd's demise. Batman had done many reckless things after that and Zatanna hoped that Dick wouldn't take that same route.  
Slowly Zatanna let go off his hand. Dick didn't leave immediately, his eyes told Zatanna that he understood her, but still he left after that. Zatanna watched him go with narrowed eyes. 'Some things in the Bat-family never change.' She thought.

**AN: First I want to thank you for the wonderful support I received for the first chapter, I'd never expected that! :)  
I know that this chapter is quite a downer, but try to bear with me, ok? It was necessary to **

**picture the situation. Please Review! **


	3. Cold reality

Cold reality

The last thing Zatanna remembered from her dream before she woke up was the voice of Dr. fate saying: 'It was a success.' And she was sure she saw Nightwing and her dad too. With a grim expression on her face she got out of bed.

"It's been so long for both of them, why do I worry so much now?" she asked herself with a sigh. After she toasted herself some bread and prepared some hot water for the tea, her morning was disturbed by an urgent call from the Martian Man-hunter. She was needed at the Alaskan border to escort a group of trucks through a heavy blizzard, together with Rocket and Superman. The plan was that they would fly above the trucks and keep an eye on the storm.

Zatanna was still perfecting her portal-spells, with no one left to train her since she was thirteen, the process of learning went slow and from Manhattan to Alaska (I tried but I just couldn't find where Zatanna originally lives) was a long distance.

"Well, better get to it." Zatanna took one sip from her tea and settled herself down on her kitchen floor, crossed her legs and closed her eyes. "Nepo latrop Aksala." She chanted thrice in a slow manner. A circle, exciting from strange symbols and words appeared on the floor and began to move slowly from left to right over her entire body and she disappeared from her kitchen.  
In full stealth-mode she arrived in a snow covered world where the wind howled in her ears. She shivered and opened her eyes and came to her feet.

"Welcome Zatanna, I'm glad you could come." Greeted Superman her kindly. "Now we are all here. The trucks will pass by at any moment, let's get into our positions. Rocket, you stay in the west, as soon as trucks pass you, create a shield between them and the storm behind them. Zatanna, use you levitating spell to get into the air on the northern side of the road. Use whatever you can to clean their road. As for me, I'm going to fly from east to south to keep an look out with my supervision. If something big is coming up, I'll let you know through our communicators."

Rocket and Zatanna nodded, Rocket shot herself into the air and disappeared in the blizzard.

"Etativel em!" cried Zatanna through the wind and up she soared up to the sky. While she sped up through the air she got completely soaked by the storm and the snowflakes flew into her eyes.

"Etaerc a dleihs dnuora em!" The wind blew no longer in front of her, but passed her and she could see clearly through the storm. Smirking at her own cleverness, she stationed herself a few meter above the snowy ground on the northern side of the nearly camouflaged road, marked with just a few unstable wooden poles. 'This won't be very challenging.' She thought.

After an quarter of an hour or so, she could see a dozen black spot move towards her spot.

"Let the cleaning begin." Zatanna said to herself and pointed her hands towards the road below.

"Nus evig em ruoy thraw." She said and with a sweeping motion from left to right and the snow melted away just in front of the first truck, but as the first truck drove on, snow began to fall off it's back to cover the road once again. She had to clean it again every time a truck passed it, but at the same time she had to stay in front of the first truck to clear the road ahead. This couldn't continue and she flew down towards the first driver, cleaning his road and then flew on to the next truck. She cleaned his bit of road and made for the window of the driver's seat.

"Sir excuse me." She began hesitatingly to the shocked driver. "My name is Zatanna, I am trying to clear the road for you, but I can only do that in the front. Do you mind driving a little closer to the truck in front of you?" She knew that her question had severe consequences. Driving close to each other, would mean that once one truck got into trouble, they would all crash together.

Nevertheless the truck driver smiled. "Sure thing, sweetie." He said and he gave her a wink.

"Thank you." Zatanna said amused and she flew on to the rest of the trucks to ask the other drivers to do the same. None of them made an objection, it was clear that they were no stranger to dangerous solutions. After her short talk to the last driver, Zatanna sped back to the front, hoping she hadn't lost too much time. "Nus evig em ruoy thraw!" she yelled as soon as she reached the first truck and she wiped the snow from a great piece of road. "Phew, everything is going to be fine." She sighed, relieved that she did not screw it up, but she had said too soon.

A sudden thick fog spread all over the area and blocked the trucks from view and she heard a terrible crash. "Etativel skcurt!" The trucks flew up out of the fog, which had gained a strange green colour.

"Zatanna, Rocket, something is wrong!" said Superman through the tiny microphone in Zatanna's ear. His statement could not be more useless, but right now he was the captain of this mission and Zatanna kept her sarcasm to herself, on top of that, she had twelve trucks in the air.

"Need a hand?" called Rocket as she flew towards the scene. Without waiting for an answer she cast a protective sphere around the trucks.

"Thanks Raquel."

"No prob Ze, what do you reckon happened here?"

"No idea." Answered Zatanna and she decided to contact their leader. "Superman? Do you see anything?"

"Ha-ha, I'm no hider, I'm right here!" cried an insane voice through the strange fog and Zatanna and Rocket knew at once who it was: The Joker.

His freakish green hair mixed with the fog and his eyes gleamed malevolently. "I'm sorry, but I need that gasoline that those cars carry. Give it to me and no one gets hurt." Said Joker through a yellow-and-black spotted microphone. He stood on a little iceberg with his goons beside him, holding a big machine that made the green fog.

"You are in no position to bargain, clown boy!" yelled Rocket. "Zatanna, do something!"

"Right. Yortsed taht enihcam!" with a loud bang the machine exploded into tiny bits.

"Nice one!" cried Rocket delighted.

"Get the trucks to a save place!" Zatanna said and she sped away towards the three villains.

"Right! Superman, I don't know where you are right now, but go help Zatanna!"

Then Zatanna heard Superman through her earphone.

"On my way, Zatanna hold on." Oh she would hold on, no problem. She was just no expert in direct combat like him or Batman.

"Tel eht strahs esir!" the bits of metal form the exploded machine flew up and charged at the three men. The two goons ducked and The Joker pulled out an enormous pink umbrella from his belt like a very weird sword, clapped it open and hid behind it.

'Hm, nice try.' Zatanna thought. "Tel ti emoceb a nosirp!" she said to the umbrella and it closed itself around The Joker as a straightjacket.

"Aha, shoot. Time for back up." Said Joker grinning and he whistled a long tone. From all around Zatanna goons came running at her, all armed with big clubs. Two of them were already trying to free Joker and the cowering goons next to Joker regained their courage to approach her as well.

"Eh, Superman, would be fine." She said while she felt herself become desperate. There were just too many of them to handle alone.

"Retaw dna eci etanimod siht enecs!" with all her strength she created a large wave of icy water that she threw over the nearest goons. They collapsed under its pressure and froze solid to the ground.

Finally Superman showed up and shoot some lacer-beams at the remaining goons. The snow under their feet turned in a sort of quicksand as a result of the sudden heat from the beams and the clowns got dragged down till their waists.

"Thanks." Said Zatanna.

"No problem, but this is most unfortunate. We have to move the trucks somewhere save. With all these goons popping from nowhere, we can never be sure what happens on the other end of the scene. I can't let Rocket stay there casting a protective shield forever, she will freeze to death." He said all this while he fought his way through the clowns and got The Joker in the face.

"Ah." Groaned Joker as he stood up again and cracked his nose back into its right place. "Then by all means go, I like fighting Batsy much more anyway."

"That makes no sense Joker, if I go so does the gasoline."

"We shall see." Grinned the maniac.

"What's your plan captain?" asked Zatanna, while she through another wave to new goons.

"I can take some of them hostage, but I'm not sure if that will do anything." Thought Superman aloud.

By now, they could only hear each other through their earphones, for the fight drove them far apart. The fog grew even thicker as it intermingled with fresh snow and attacks were hardly undetectable because the soft snow and the loud wind made every movement soundless.

"Can someone please decide! It's getting unbearably cold here and a sphere this big asks a lot of energy." Rocket's voice said. Zatanna sighed, there was nothing else to do.

"Go, I will keep these guys busy." She told Superman. She saw him rise into the air a few feet ahead from her and he sped away in maximum speed. "Right, come and get me if you dare!" she shouted to the clown prince and his followers and raised her arms threateningly.

"With pleasure." The Joker said and he started to advance on her. "But are you sure, you can handle all of us?"

"I got it!" said an optimistic voice in Zatanna's ear and two seconds later someone in red and black dropped from the sky and gave an utterly surprised Joker a blow with one of his sticks.

"Robin?"

"Hi Zatanna, sorry for the wait. We were already on a Joker-case when it let us here. The other should be around here too, I jumped first."

Zatanna assumed that they arrived here in the bat-mobile. "Eh Thanks." she said and she caused a blast of snow to blow a few goons from their feet.

"Nice one, but I got this." Robin ran to the goons who struggled to their feet and hid them with heavy blow till they were unconscious. He was very fast, Zatanna could never keep up with him, as it was said before, she was not skilled in direct combat. Then she got an idea.

"Etativel." She soared up and immediately heard two goons crash into each other by the confusion. "Good. Snialliv emoc ot em!" One by one the goons sprouted out of the fog and started to float in the air at Zatanna's will. She let them knock each other out or simply threw them back on the ground, where they would crash to the ground.

"Oh no you don't missy." The Joker shouted and he launched himself at her ankles. A startled high-pitched scream escaped her lips as she got dragged down by the crazy clown. Once she was on the ground, he grabbed her wrists and brought his unnatural pale face close to hers.  
"Ha-ha, now I got you!" he released her right wrist, only to get a short sharp knife from an inside-pocket from his jacket.

"Which part of you should I maim first? Ha-ha-ha!"

BANG! Something exploded behind Joker, he looked around and received a punch from the man who had just appeared from nowhere. The Joker fell on his knees and collapsed with his face in the snow.

Zatanna had little time to look for her saviour before she was grabbed by two strong arms that cupped her up like a princess and carried her away.

"Nightwing? What are you doing? I'm fine!"

But Dick didn't answer, he ran for a little while then he let her stand again. In the distance, Zatanna could hear the screams of the battle.

"Rendezvous with Rocket and Superman, The Joker is our responsibility." Dick said and he turned to ran back towards to battle.

"Nightwing wait." Zatanna said and she raised her hands again. "Ekoms dna srorrim, etaerc owt gniwthgin snoisulli" With two small plops two replicas of Nightwing appeared.

"Thanks." Dick said, truly thankful and his hard expression softens when he gave her his grin he used to wear when he was Robin.

Zatanna said nothing, she just smiled. Then when Nightwing left she settled herself down on the cold ground and crossed her legs. "Nepo latrop ot Tekcor."

Meanwhile Batman had entered the fray and teamed up with Robin.

"Where do you think all these guys keep coming from?" Asked Robin annoyed as he jumped over a confused goon and kicked his companion in the face.

"I don't know, but I wonder where Nightwing went." Replied Batman in his usual grim tone. Just then they saw three identical Nightwings running past them. The one who was holding The Joker said: "Batman, I got Joker and Superman takes care of the gasoline. I say it's time to tie this lot up and go."

"Agreed." Said Batman, but when all the Nightwings had moved on he gave Robin a curious look. "Zatanna?"

"Zatanna." Confirmed Robin with a smirk on his face.

"Well let's hope he keeps his head in the game."

But Zatanna and Nightwing didn't see each other for a second time that way. Zatanna helped Rocket and Superman with the transport of the trucks and the drivers and after that, their mission had ended. They only got one call from Batman in which he told them that all the villains were on their way to Arkham in Gotham, Batman and his team would see to that personally.

As Zatanna returned home she recalled what Artemis had said. She had to move on and stop looking back.

**AN: So a little action in this chapter, I don't know if I pictured it enough though :( Well, I did my best, please review! I would appreciate it! **


	4. Two performances

Two performances

"Ladies and gentlemen, performing in our own Star City, Zatanna!"

Zatanna walked onto the stage, accompanied by enormous applause as always. She bowed and smiled, as always. She did her magic tricks with success, as always.

Even though this job was long from new for her, she still loved it. The appreciation from the crowd gave her great comfort, it made her forget all the weight of the world.

After the show she would go home by herself on her motorcycle. She could create a portal, but her portal-spells were still developing and she liked to drive by night.

"What if I give you a ride home tonight, would that be ok?" Asked Charles, her assistant. He was a man of half Italian blood with black hair, olive skin and smooth eyes and a real flirt at that! He got worse by the year since they teamed up. He was an friend of her father and Zatanna kept him mainly for that reason and because she could trust him.

"No thanks Char, my ride is parked outside." She said it with a friendly smile, but she really became tired of this game of his. "I see you Wednesday night in Gotham City ok?" she gently brushed his hand from her shoulder and left the building. One red carpet and a few cameras were between her and the parking place. She walked down the carped with grace, putting up a friendly hand here and there and then she could finally get on her motorcycle.

"Hey, you're the great Zatanna right?" someone emerged from the shadows and blocked her way, just as she entered the parking place. Of course, Zatanna wasn't shocked at all, guys like this one were everywhere.

"I saw you up close tonight, I hardly believed my eyes." Went the boy on. "So wonderful, you are." He wasn't exactly talking about her magic skills, the punk's eyes were looking at every inch of her body with a wolfish hunger. "You have guts to walk here all alone, someone might take advantage of you."

Zatanna let the punk talk, but narrowed her eyes, she wondered where he was going with this and expected some of his friends to jump from the shadows at any minute.

"What do you say? I will keep you save." Sneered the punk and he reached out a hand to take Zatanna's upper arm. Zatanna, however took nonchalantly a step closer and in surprise the boy backed away, withdrawing his hand.

"Oh really?" Zatanna teased, amused by his reaction. "It looks to me that your nerves are not made of steel. I think I will be fine on my own." She smirked at the boy, she had hit his pride hard. Zatanna walked past him, grabbed the handle of her motorcycle, which she always parked directly behind the building for a quick getaway, and swung her leg over the motor-seat.

Recovered from his confusion , the punk grabbed Zatanna's hand forcefully and dragged her halfway from her motorcycle.

"Listen babe, don't be so difficult. Come on I show you a good time!"

"Ezilibomed." The punk's grip loosened and his eyes became vague.

When Zatanna shook his hand off, he swayed a little on his feet. His arm fell weakly alongside his body and he did nothing else.

"No worries, you will wake up in an hour or so." Zatanna told the nearly conscious boy , seated herself on her ride again and drove away.

'That must have been the easiest way I ever shook off a guy!' she thought and she smirked to herself.

Wednesday night Zatanna got an unexpected visitor. After her show she was just done changing when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Called Zatanna as she put on her motor-jacket thinking it was Charles with yet another smooth move to bring her home. Slimy slug. The door opened and Zatanna was astonished to see none other than Bruce Wayne, stepping into the room.

"Zatanna, we need to talk." He said as the door closed behind him. Typical Batman, always straight to the point.

"Eh hi Bruce, I didn't expect to see you here." Said Zatanna in an attempt to make the situation less stiff. Wrong move, for Batman narrowed his eyes and looked irritated. He didn't like it when members of The League called him by his real name so directly, especially the new members like Zatanna. "What's wrong, is someone in trouble?" Zatanna began to worry now, Bruce would never come without a good reason.

"No not yet, but I have to ask you a favour." Batman sighed, he looked really worried. "Have you seen Dick lately?"

"No, did something happen?" Zatanna heard herself freak out. Yep, she had to do something about this frantic feeling of hers.

"No you don't need to worry, but you know of his past I trust?"

Zatanna nodded and relaxed a little.

"Dick has lost many people in his life, close people. When he met Wally West he could finally rebuilt. He has been avoiding me and that's fine because he needs time to digest his lost. I want you to stay out of it. Don't go looking for him."

"Don't you think you've outgrown the position to order me around or to decide for Dick?" Zatanna didn't mean to be rude, but it was the truth and she wanted it to be said.

"I know what's good for him, I already talked to Barbara too." Bruce didn't sound mad and that surprised Zatanna so much that she started to feel guilty.

"Look, I know you have his best interest as his foster father, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, I got the same reaction from Barbara, only without the apology."

"Really? " Zatanna didn't know much about Barbara Gordon, mainly because she was as chatty as any member of the bat-family. Dick had been the exception. Barbara had been a classmate and good friend of Dick and after herself, she had been his new girlfriend for quite a long time. She didn't seem like a bad person, she and Zatanna had just never talked properly.

"You are much alike and I know that you two care for Dick and that he cares for you. All the more reason to give each other space. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Ok Bru- ah." Zatanna thought it better not to address him too friendly. "I promise I won't go see him. You have my word." Zatanna put her hands in front of her as sign of surrender.

"Good I will trust you on this." Bruce Wayne said and he turned around and walked to the door. Just before he left he turned around and said with a small smile: "Good show tonight Zatanna." With this complement he showed he meant no disrespect by his request. Zatanna therefore smiled at him and waved him out. Still she thought that The Batman poked to much in his former protégé's life. She wondered what anyone else would think about this situation. That gave her an idea, she took her cell phone from her bag and dialled Artemis's number. It was the perfect solution to talk to someone about this and to escape yet another offer from Charles.

Artemis almost picked up her phone immediately. "Artemis. Oh hi Zatanna, what's up?"

Thank goodness Artemis sounded cheerful and in the mood for some fun.

"Hi Artemis, I was wondering if you got time to get some drinks with me?"

"Sure, anything to get me off this couch."

"Ha-ha, great! I'm done with my show at Gotham Theatre. Can you meet me at its parking place?"

"Sure, I'm with you in less than an hour."

"Don't drive too hard, I can wait." Joked Zatanna.

"Ha-ha see yah in a bit." Laughed Artemis.

"Bye!" Zatanna felt all cheerful and refreshed. 'Yes, this will be fun, just like old times.'

Zatanna made sure she stayed away from Charles during her remaining time in the theatre. She watched the workmen clean up the stage and had an enjoyable chat with the manager of the place. Then she could finally head for the exit were she unfortunately met Charles, but she was ready for him.

"No worries Charles, I'm meeting with a good friend of mine tonight."

"Ah, no. I wasn't.." Stuttered Charles, she had beat him. "That's great, have fun?" he said a bit off his feet and he walked away.

"Hey Zatanna!" A familiar voice called not too soon as Artemis walked from the entrance towards her.

"Hi Artemis, it's so good to see you."

"Ready to go? I was really bored to death before you called."

"No problem, any idea for a fun café? You lived here after all."

"Leave it to me. Come on."

Without looking at the scowling Charles, Zatanna left with her friend in high spirits. They drove to a crowded place in a short distance from where Artemis once lived. There were two levels in the building, one for dancing and one for people who wanted to have a conversation while they enjoyed a drink.

"Nice place." Grinned Zatanna as they walked up the stairs to the café."

"Thanks, it's one of my personal favourites from my years at the Gotham academy." Artemis let Zatanna to a table in the last row, where they could see the party below through double-glassed walls. They each sat down on one end of the little square table.

"I once took M'gann to this place too, but it wasn't much fun, she attracts too many attention."

"And you don't?" Asked Zatanna with a teasing smile.

"Yeah, but those guys don't like girls who talk back like you and me."

Zatanna and Artemis laughed.

"Come on, let's mess with some guys' heads." Suggested Artemis with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Not yet, first I need to talk to you." Said Zatanna and after she saw Artemis' face, she continued: "It's not serious, honestly. I just need to get something off my chest."

Artemis sighed. "Ok, I will get some drinks, ok." She stood up and stalked away to the bar. Hopefully Zatanna had not made a mistake. She pondered it over for a while until Artemis came back with two festive cocktails. She didn't look angry, just a bit grim.

"This is about Dick, isn't it?" she asked.

"In a way, but not directly." Replied Zatanna as she took the cocktail. "Thanks."

Artemis didn't look very convinced by her reply and didn't say anything and let her friend speak.

"Bruce came to see me after the show today." As Zatanna had expected, Artemis widened her eyes in surprise..

"What did he want?" she wanted to know.

"He wanted me not to contact Dick for the time being. He thinks it will be best for Dick to be left alone for a while."

"Who is Bruce to decide for you or for Dick? Sure we are old enough to decide for ourselves." Artemis' reaction was exactly as Zatanna had predicted.

"But you agree with him, don't you? You think I should leave Dick alone too."

"Well yeah, but you don't need Wayne to tell you that! Besides, I was talking about moving on from dating, not friendship."

"I don't think he means that either, Artemis. He wants to help Dick."

"That's what they always say." Artemis took her drink firmly in hand and took a long sip from it.

"But you do agree with Bruce." Repeated Zatanna and Artemis gave her a silence as confirmation . "I know what you both mean," continued Zatanna. "and normally I would leave things for what they are, but I have this feeling that Dick will do something stupid soon and get himself in big trouble."

"Zatanna relax, I'm sure he is never really alone. Bruce and Barb will never let him out of their sight." Artemis sounded indifferent, clearly she didn't worry at all.

"Bruce said he talked to Barbara as well. She didn't let him tell her off either, but she trusts Bruce and so do I."

Artemis remained silent again and Zatanna went on. "But this uneasy feeling I have won't go away unless I do something about it." Artemis wanted to say something against it, but Zatanna cut her off. "No, I will call him tonight, I have to talk to him and see if he's ok."

Artemis gave her an disapproving look, but Zatanna had already made up her mind. A very long painful silence fell.

"Anyway thanks for listening, Artemis." Zatanna said kindly.

"Oh yeah, you're welcome."

"You know you can talk to me too, right?" Tried Zatanna. It would be good for Artemis if she could talk about her feelings as well, but Artemis said:

"No, I don't feel like talking."

Zatanna knew that Artemis was angry with her, but she didn't listen to her either, she just wouldn't let anybody in. Zatanna saw her face fall back into despair, but whenever she gave her an comforting smile, she looked away. If Artemis didn't want to share anything with her, then Zatanna didn't owe her anything.

An hour later Zatanna drove home. In the end they had made the evening more fun by dancing a bit and outsmarting a couple of guys ( which was not so hard, since the guys were drunk and they weren't). Zatanna just hoped she hadn't ruined Artemis' evening by their differences. Now her stubborn feelings were replaced by guilt. Who was she to be angry, she didn't lose the love of her life. So what if she didn't want to talk and forced herself to smile!

Even though the sympathy for her friend was kicking in hard, she still grabbed the phone as soon as she had entered her home and dialled Dick's number. She waited a long time, but Dick didn't answer. 'He's probably on a mission, 'she thought. 'but he always carries his phone with him, even on a mission. So why didn't he pick up? Maybe he needs to be stealthy and that's why he doesn't answer, but he could also be unconscious and in trouble.' Zatanna started to feel very paranoid.

"Don't be stupid, Ze." She told herself. "if anything should happen to Dick, Bruce would know it and come to help. She put down the phone, telling herself to calm down and think logical.

"This is just what Artemis warned me about. If Dick wants to throw himself in trouble, fine! Barbara can go after him, I don't care!" She walked into her bed room to get herself ready for bed.

'I should get a pet to talk to, because these conversations with myself are just sad.'

Zatanna spread herself out on her soft bed and faked a peaceful face, as she closed her eyes and dozed off to sleep, a thought crept into her mind. 'I want to know what Dick is doing right now. I want to be with him.'

Suddenly the air was full of sound.

**AN: I know the ending is not much of a cliff hanger, but who cares! Once again a chapter with conversations, I hope you don't mind. Thank you all so much for the last reviews, please let me know what you think of this one!**

**Little explanation: I've decided to go along with Barbara Gordon's explanation in Batman Beyond about her relationship with Dick Grayson. So I figured that he and Zatanna broke up after she joined The Justice league. Dick started dating Barbara while they both were still Batman's protégés and broke up after Dick became Nightwing.**


	5. The power of the mind

The power of the mind

Through the sound of shots and running feet, someone gave a surprised cry. Zatanna opened her eyes and before her vision could clear she saw a blurred figure ran towards her with a gun.

"Etaerc a dlaehs dnuora em!" she shouted quickly and a protective shield appeared around her. Zatanna got to her feet and looked around. "Am I dreaming? How did I get here?" She wondered aloud.

"Oi! We got another brat over here, man!" It was the man who had aimed a gun at her.

"I thought the wing nut worked alone." Yelled his companion back in a slow low voice, a very tough guy and also armed with a gun.

"She just appeared here. By the looks of it she is a magic user, go tell the boss." Said the first, this one was much taller and thinner and just as the stereo types picture, the smarter one.

"Uh alright." Answered the big guy and he ran off towards the exit. Now that Zatanna had time to look around, she noticed that she was in a place that was more like a circus tent than a building. There was even a trapeze attached to the ceiling. Zatanna was completely clueless, but it was time to take the defence. "Tfit siht dlaehs." The shield vanished. "Emit rof a wen kool." In a flash she was all dressed up in her magician outfit, complete with magic wand.  
"Laever lla ruoy snoog." She pointed with her wand to all the corners of the building and from every shadow goons flew towards her. There was no hiding place good enough for her magic.  
"Tsalb meht lla!" with her wand Zatanna created a whip with which she knocked the goons from their feet. Unfortunately goons like these are tough and they were very quick on their feet again and Zatanna readied her whip again.  
Then two people swooped in. both were very light on their feet and strong in their arms. They kept each other at bay by using their bare hands. One of the fighters was Nightwing and the other was a woman who Zatanna had never seen before. She was quite muscular for a woman and she wore an outfit you could describe as one acrobats wear. Her mask was made from wood and had only two slits in it for the eyes, it kind of reminded Zatanna of Sportsmaster's mask. Zatanna also noticed that she wore a sword on her left hip. The fact that she didn't use it told her that this woman was a thrill seeker who liked to play with her opponents and test their strength.  
Only when Zatanna whipped a few more goons violently from their feet so that they all cried out in pain, did Nightwing and the woman notice her presence.  
They both stopped fighting, the woman's expression was unreadable by her weird mask and Nightwing only squinted before he continued their fight. Nightwing was well-trained indeed, he had learned not to let his guard down whatever happens. In this situation it was best if the opponents didn't know that Zatanna and Nightwing knew each other personally, so Zatanna followed his lead and didn't pay any attention to him. She would figure something out. These goons were no match for her, no matter how hard they tried. After her last blow with her whip, only three stumbled to their feet to continue shooting, but Zatanna had already raised her wand.

"Etativel eht snug ot em!" After the stunned goons lost their weapons, they weren't so persistent anymore and Zatanna decided to end this battle. "Eb ta eht lliw fo ym dnaw!" she said and with a simple flick with her wand the goons rose up and with another flick towards the wall she let them slam against the wall. When they fell to the ground they stayed there, unconscious.

Now that that was taken care of, she had to figure out a way to talk to Nightwing. He was still fighting with this crazy lady, but she had an idea. She retreated into the shadows and closed her eyes and began to meditate. Her breathing became deep and slow and she began to empty her mind. Zatanna placed her index fingers on her temples and opened her eyes. They were glowing, she opened her mouth, but neither she nor the two fighting heard her spell.

"Emit tuo!"

Zatanna had succeeded, all time stood still, at least for now. "Yam ym sdrow ylno hcaer uoy." She said slowly, it was very difficult to do two spells at once, but she knew that this combinations would become essential one day, so she had been perfecting it for a long time, she could do this.

'Nightwing?' she asked mentally, it was in fact an imitation to the Martian telepathy.

'Zatanna? What happened, where are you?' she heard Nightwing ask in her head.

Thank goodness it had worked! 'I'm in the shadows in the warehouse. I stopped time, but it will only last a minute. Can you tell me where we are?'

'Just outside Blűdhaven.'

'Alright, how can I help you?'

'You can't. You have to get out of here. Do you know the base we used when the Cave was destroyed?'

'Yes, I've been there once.'

'Teleport yourself there, I'll rendezvous there later.'

'But..' Zatanna wanted to protest, but Nightwing cut her off.

'NO GO! We can compare notes later!.'

Time was short, so Zatanna did as she was told. With a deep sigh she released time. "Latrop ot esuoheraw, latrop ot esuoheraw, latrop ot esuoheraw." She chanted and once again a circle appeared on the floor and slowly began to move from left to right over her body.

The circle vanished on the floor of a dark dusty warehouse. The beds were still there, even though all the people who once slept upon the were long gone. Zatanna immediately sat down on one of them and looked around. It was quite spacy and peaceful. She snapped with her fingers towards the dusty lamp hanging from the ceiling. "Tel ereht eb thgil." And the lamp flickered into live. 'Magic can sure make you lazy.' She thought, smirking at her simple magic, just to turn on the light. She placed her hands behind her head and let herself fall on top of the bed.

'How long would it take for Nightwing to get her?' she wondered. The strange thing was that she found herself being pretty calm and confident about the situation. Apparently seeing Dick fight like that, made her paranoia disappear.

Now there was that mystery about how she got here without using a spell first. 'Did I chant in my sleep or something? I know I wanted to know how Dick was doing, but I never expected this to happen. I never did a spell in my sleep before.'  
It was quiet, the warehouse proved to have pretty thick walls because Zatanna could hardly hear the noises from the city. At some point she must have fallen asleep, because she woke up with a start after a while, maybe hours. She shot upright and looked towards the door, but she didn't have to look far. There he was in full Nightwing costume, sitting on a chair very close to her bed.

"Nigh- I mean Dick!" Cried Zatanna out.

Dick answered to his name by taking off his mask and he looked at her with those brilliant eyes of his. "Zatanna, what happened?" He asked and his tone was awfully familiar.

"Hah, you sound like Batman." Zatanna said, then she remembered. "Oh man, Batman! There goes my promise to him."

"What promise?" Asked Dick puzzled.

"Batman made me promise not to go looking for you, but I kind of unintentionally did." Zatanna shuddered. The truth is , I don't know what happened.. my guess is that I teleported myself here, just by thinking of you. I didn't think it possible at first, but some complicated spells only work probably once you chant them forwards instead of backwards."

"Can you teleport yourself back to Manhattan?" asked Dick, who had been listening intently.

"What? Aren't you whelmed to see me?" asked Zatanna grinning, but Dick didn't seem to think it a laughing matter.

"Normally I would be, but this is a very dangerous time."

Zatanna threw him a look.

"I'm serious Zatanna!" Dick began to sound very urgent and almost desperate, so Zatanna left the joking for another time and listened to him. "Those men you fought weren't much, but they are with many and are very persistent. They are members of the Blockbuster Gang."

"Blockbuster?" Zatanna knew that term only too well.

"Yes, I assume you heard of it. It is a venom, created by Dr. Desmond that he eventually used on himself below Cadmus to stop us. He later formed a gang, most members were also related to the organisation Cobra with whom Desmond shared the properties of the venom. I thought their activities had stopped after Desmond died of a heart attack after his fight with Wonder woman and Wonder girl, but I was wrong. That woman I fought hired them and she is very dangerous. Her name is Elaine Marsh-Morton aka Lady Vic and she is a well-trained bounty hunter and assassin. As you have probably noticed is she a thrill seeker and very determined. She comes from a long line of soldiers and acrobats."

Now Zatanna understood the trapeze on the ceiling in that hideout.

"But if she usually works for hire, why would she need to hire a gang of thugs?" Asked Zatanna. "Don't bounty hunters usually work alone?"

"That's what I tried to figure out tonight when I ran into her."

"Let me guess, it was a covert operation?" smirked Zatanna. That really took her back. Back when she was on the team, Batman had been all about the covert missions.

"Yes, Lady Vic is not a talker like Joker, she doesn't tell her plans. I don't know her motive yet."

"So let me help!" Insisted Zatanna. "I know I'm not as good in information-digging as Barbara or Tim, but at least you're not alone in this."

"Believe me, right now I rather be alone in this." Said Dick firmly, but Zatanna didn't let him tell her off. She sighed irritated and said with a soft and patient voice:

"Normally I would trust you on this and leave you to handle it yourself, but you can't fight everything alone, Dick." Now she had his attention. He looked at her and she saw that he had very mixed feelings about what was coming next.

"You and Artemis are the same," Zatanna continued, "you won't talk about it or admit to the sorrow and you try to push it away, but you can talk once in a while. It is ok to grief, just let it out."  
As Zatanna had expected did Dick look away, but this time only to sigh and he looked up again. What Zatanna saw in his eyes brought her both relieve and sadness. Dick's eyes were filled with sorrow and desperation for relieve. Zatanna had always known that this need to talk had to be somewhere hidden in both Dick and Artemis and she smiled at him warmly. "Evig em mraw trofmoc." She said softly and she pointed with her wand to a small table in the corner. A steaming cup of tea and a full tea pot appeared on it and Zatanna slit off the bed to go and get the cup, that she gave to Dick.

"Please Dick, talk to me. I won't leave you to fight alone before you do."

Finally Dick gave her a small grin and took the cup of tea. "You're good, Ze." He said and he took a gulp from his tea.

Zatanna returned to her place on the bed and waited.

**AN: I don't have much to say about this chapter, only that I'm really proud of it, I hope you like it. Please review!**


	6. Confessions

Confessions

"I dragged them both into it." Dick began and he spoke mostly to his steaming cup of tea.  
"I mean I dragged Artemis back into the hero-life, but I should have known it would soon lead Wally to follow. Maybe that was really what I wanted, maybe I wanted him back in the game, but he hadn't trained for so long…. The truth is that I never wanted Wally to quit and I was very angry with him when he did. So angry that I pushed him out of the way when I had to let him in on Artemis' mission. He told me he was terrified for her, but still I didn't listen and he still stepped into the danger and it cost him his life."

"We both know that it's difficult to leave this life behind, surely Wally already had his doubts. You can't blame this all on yourself." Said Zatanna, she still sat on the bed in the warehouse in Blűdhaven. She kept looking at Dick, even though he chose not to make eye contact.

"Maybe so, but because of my mistake he rushed it, he knew he was out of shape. I made him do it. Superboy had been right, I should have shared my plan with at least a few more people. After all those years, I copied Batman's mistake." Dick sighed miserably and Zatanna slit off the bed to fetch him another cup of tea.

"Thanks," he said grimly, "you're good at this, if Black Canary ever needs a replacement for counselling, you can fill right in."

"No thanks, I'm fine with being a performer, besides, I can't get Artemis to talk, I'm just relieved you do."

"Yeah well, Artemis is a tough nut to crack. Even Black Canary couldn't get a word out of her, but who can blame her?" Dick said softly and he drunk his tea. "She wanted to get away from all of it and just live a peaceful life, but I robbed her of it and now she can never go back."

"You know that's the problem right?" said Zatanna, she felt as if she was talking to both Artemis and Dick at the same time. "She can go back and so can you." She tried to look him in the eye again, but Dick made that impossible. "You can't hide behind your masks forever, just be Dick Grayson for once and call on Mr and Mrs West and let them know that you're ok, it will do you good."

"How can it Zatanna?" cried Dick out and finally he looked at her and his eyes were getting misty. He had finally replaced his anger at himself with grief. "I know now that I acted so stupidly, how can I ever face them? I was so sad that he left the hero life, my life, but now he isn't in neither." Tears began to form in his eyes and to safe himself from falling apart he took another sip from his tea, but this didn't help. Tears now rolled down his cheeks and he couldn't stop them anymore.

"What did you put in this tea?" Dick asked with a cracked voice and he tried to sound nonchalant.

"Just herbs and love." Zatanna replied. She didn't let any special meaning to it shine through, but still Dick looked at her. "You know what I mean!" she said to safe herself, but an embarrassed feeling began to boil inside. It was very out of character and she felt herself being stupid.

"Yeah I know." Dick said softly and he averted his eyes again. The atmosphere had suddenly changed from sad to awkward. It remained silent for quite some time and Zatanna began to doze off, she hadn't slept after all. It was then that Dick spoke again, he did it softly, but still it woke her immediately.

"You were right Ze, thanks for listening."

Zatanna wanted to say 'no problem' but the sight of Dick putting on his mask, drove that from her mind. "What are you doing?" she asked angrily and she came to her feet.

Dick stood up as well. "I'm going after Lady Vic, there's lots to figure out."

"Right now? You need sleep!"

"The talk and the tea gave me enough rest."

"Don't joke with me! I'm coming with you."

"NO!" Now it was Dick's turn to raise his voice. "No Ze, I appreciate what you're trying to do and you really helped me to clear my head, but now you need to get yourself back to Manhattan."

Zatanna crossed her arms and stood her ground. There was no way that he could tell her off.

"Look, with Elaine's acrobatic skills I can match her and frankly I wouldn't even ask Tim for help, even though he is even better than I was at his age. Her nickname, Lady Vic, stands short for Lady Victim, which shows how dangerous she is. Zatanna, she once captured Black Canary, just for ransom!"

Zatanna dropped her jaw, she had always thought their former combat teacher to be untouchable.

"Ok." she sighed. "I believe you, but that doesn't make it better for you to fight her alone. I know for sure that she is not familiar with my magic and I have a 'blur out- spell' in my arsenal. I can make her tell her plan."

"I know you're not a person to retreat," tried Dick again, "but please make an exception this time. I will not let anyone get hurt this time, especially not you because you want to help me."

That was it and Zatanna dropped her defences. She had always thought that there had been more to their relationship, even after the break-up, but now he spoke to her like he would to any other good friend. However, even as just a 'good friend', she could not leave him to face this alone.

"Alright," she said, "but so that you know, I have developed a 'cloak- spell' that will make me as invisible as M'gann in camouflage-mode." She raised her arm. "Kaolc em!" Said Zatanna and she disappeared. "You nor anyone else will know where I am." She said in triumph and she moved around the warehouse to complete her demonstration, but she failed to fool Nightwing. As a trained teammate of Miss Martian, he was able to find her quite easily. He grabbed her by her right arm and pulled her very close to him. Startled Zatanna gasped before she was kissed.  
You just can't keep a spell up when you're being kissed and so the cloak fell from her shoulders and she became visible again. She wanted to say something, but just couldn't. Dick was in control and when he released her, he spoke first.

"You still mean the world to me Zatanna. I realised that a long time ago. Please don't let me feel the same pain as Wally felt and stay safe."

"I can't stay home forever, you know that." Whisper Zatanna. "I can handle myself." She was feeling a lot, she was happy about the fact that Dick kissed her and that he confessed his feelings for her, but she still didn't feel like backing down.

"Yes I know." Said Dick flatly. This made Zatanna laugh and she took his hands into hers.

"We're both a mess, Boy Wonder, we have to trust each other more, but we worry too much." She said and for a moment they just gazed each other in the eyes. Just by this happiness, Zatanna knew that she could let go off all her worries if she tried. Now that she knew that Dick felt the same.

"Ok, I'll leave you to this mission, " she said, "but please promise me that you start tomorrow and get some sleep."

Dick grinned. "Thanks Ze, but right now I'm not so keen on letting you go. That last trick of yours convinced me."

Of course this couldn't be fully true, but Zatanna didn't care, she smile broadly and kissed him in gratitude. "Thanks Boy Wonder."

"Don't mention it." Grinned Dick, he walked to one of the other beds and lay down. "Tomorrow we will figure out the rest."

Zatanna too returned to her bed and the rest of the night and a great deal of the next day, she slept a peaceful sleep with no worries.

Zatanna woke up and found Nightwing sitting in his chair. He had drawn the table in front of him and was bending over it with one hand in his hair and with the other he scribbled something on a piece of paper. Zatanna wondered if he really had slept at all and how much she had.

"Good afternoon." Greeted Dick her as soon as he noticed her in front of him.

'Yep I really slept too much.' Zatanna thought , but there was no need to be ashamed, just because creatures of the night never sleep. She took out her magic wand and pointed to the chair.

"Etacilpud." Next to the chair appeared an exact replica of it, Zatanna drew it next to Dick and looked at the piece of paper. Dick had drawn a map of lady Vic's lair and at some rooms he had made little crosses.

"As you probably have guessed, that warehouse was not her lair. As a member of an rich English family she has her own mansion and spends most of her time there. You could say that she is hiding in plain sight." Dick began. "Yesterday I ran into her there when I was checking the place for clues. I know that she is working for someone to steal something, but I don't know what or for whom. Dealings like these usually leave traces like phone messages, newspaper cut-outs, fingerprints and letters, but I didn't find any of that yet."

"How do you know that she is working for someone?" Asked Zatanna intrigued.

"Elaine is always looking for work, even though she has enough money. It has become a pattern to me when she is working for someone, so I know it immediately when she is.  
I crossed the places I already checked and we will do the rest tonight."

"Except I don't have a device to look for fingerprints." Pointed Zatanna out.

"Here, I have an extra." He reached inside his utility belt and took out a compact pair of binoculars and gave them to Zatanna. She didn't have any pockets in her outfit so she summoned a belt pouch that she fastened around her hip and tucked the binoculars in it, in one of its pockets. In a way it was her own personally utility belt.

"Tonight we will try to complete what I started yesterday." Dick continued and he pointed to a cross-free zone in the western wing of the mansion. "This is where you will search. There is a change that she might be at home, but she rarely comes in that place in the house. When something happens we can use your presence as a surprise attack."

"I'm not so sure it will be a surprise. One of her goons saw me appear out of nowhere and put one and one together and one ran off to tell their boss, which has to be her."

"Well she is not used to magic-users, so we can still use that." Said Dick, but he didn't sound very optimistic. Zatanna wanted to apologize for her sudden give-away yesterday, but Dick didn't seem to blame her and went on with his plan.

"How long can you keep that cloak-spell up?"

"Forever if no one kisses me." Replied Zatanna smirking.

"Then I have to make sure that doesn't happen." Dick said in a low voice and he smiled. Then he went back to business and drew a second map of the mansion on the remaining half of the paper. When he had finished, he tore the piece of paper in half and gave one map to Zatanna, that she folded up and tucked it in her belt pouch as well.

"Right." Said Dick decisively and he stood up. "We will discuss the rest tonight, but for now I suggest we get to town and find something to eat."

**AN: Hi guys, I'm sorry it took a while but I hadn't finished this chapter yet when I uploaded the last one. ( That was supposed to be two chapters, but they both were so short that I put them into one.) Anyway I hope you like this chapter, I was finally able to put some love in it, so I hope you like it. Please review!**


	7. The first clue

**AN: first of, my cover is done, yeah! I hope you like it. Sorry for the long wait, but here is another chapter!**

The first clue

This was music to Zatanna's ears, she was starving.

"Emit ot egrem htiw eht dworc." For a moment they were both covered in smoke then they were both clad in jeans and sweatshirts.

"Shall we go?" said Dick and he walked towards the exit.

"You show the way, I'm new to this town." Said Zatanna.

Dick smiled and pressed the button on the wall to open the warehouse. When the lid opened a cold freezing breeze filled the warehouse at once.

"Almost forgot, stekcaj." She said and two jackets appeared in her arms. She gave the largest to Dick who saw with astonishment that it was his own.

"I can make anything appear as long as I remember it." Zatanna explained.

"Well thanks, but I don't think I need it."

"I do, it's October!" Zatanna put on her coat and stepped outside, immediately the cold wind caught her ears and she put on her hood, only to be laughed at by Dick who wore his jacket casually open.  
"Let's go." he said cheerfully and he locked the warehouse and they walked away.

Zatanna looked around, she had never been here by daylight, not that there was much different. It was a grey aisle filled with grey buildings and old abandoned garbage-pickups. Luckily they walked fast and soon they came to the much brighter and crowded centrum of Blűdhaven. The city was now so lively that Dick began a to chat.

"What exactly did you do with our mission-outfits?" he asked.

"Simple," answered Zatanna who welcomed a conversation, "the spell I used was a replace spell, our cloths are at our homes in the exact place where we kept the cloths we wear now. Tonight I will switch them again."

"Nice." Grinned Dick and their conversation ended. They walked on in silence until Dick caught the eye of a red-headed girl Zatanna also knew.

"Hey Barb!" Dick yelled and he waved to her cheerfully, ex or not, Barbara Gordon was still his childhood friend and teammate.

Barbara doubled back. "Oh hey Dick," she said, "and Zatanna? I never expected to see you here." Her tone was friendly and not at all suspicious and so Zatanna decided to tell her the truth, well sort of.

"Yes well I came here by accident." She said conversational. "my portal-spells are still a bit rusty and I ended up here by mistake, but fortunately I ran into Dick to help me find my way."

"I see." Barbara was smart enough to know that Zatanna could zap herself right back to Manhattan whenever something went wrong, but she didn't confront Zatanna about it and Zatanna appreciated that.

"And you? What brings you here?" Asked Dick.

Barbara smiled and she casually lifted an arm hanged with shopping bags. "Oh I wanted to shop somewhere else for a change."

"Sure, all the shops in Gotham must be empty by now with the way you shop." Joked Dick.

"Ha-ha." Barbara faked a laugh. "Well I think I should go, but Dick, do me a favour and don't tell Bruce you saw me today."

"I thought you could handle Bruce." There was something strange in Dick's way of saying this, normally this would be teasing, but it sounded accusing.

"Just don't!" Snapped Barbara and she gave Dick a threatening look.

"Ok fine, I won't." said Dick and he put his hands in front of him, just like Zatanna had done when she made her promise to Batman.

Barbara relaxed, she believed him and smiled again. "I'm off then, take care of Zatanna." She gave Dick one last glare, then she smiled to Zatanna and walked away.

Zatanna couldn't help but ponder over what Barbara had said; 'Take care of Zatanna,' normally this would be a friendly concern from a good friend or family member, but she and Barbara were neither. It had to do with Dick's reputation to be a heart-breaker. Barbara of course had been in his last and longest relationship. Could it be that she worried about Zatanna? Barbara didn't blame her for her problems with Dick, but was instead concerned for her. Somehow Zatanna knew that Barbara knew about Dick's confession from yesterday and she was almost certain that she was responsible for Barbara and Dick's break-up.

Zatanna tried to get these thoughts out of her head, because they were pretty selfish, but then Dick confirmed her theory.

"Barbara still blames me for what happened between us, that I didn't tell her sooner that I also had feelings for you, that I still have these feelings for you."

Zatanna felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment, but she listened.

"To tell you the truth, I was convinced that I loved Barbara and that I couldn't get you out of my head because we didn't exactly break apart. In the end I began to understand that I mistook close friendship for love and I chose you, I just couldn't tell Barbara."

"So you were in love with two?" Asked Zatanna who tried to pretend that this confession wasn't for her, just to calm her heart.

"Not only me, Barbara too."

"Huh? With whom?"

"With Bruce."

"WHAT?!" Zatanna didn't mean to yell, but this was not at all what she had expected. "Barbara was in love with Bruce?"

"I reckon she still is." Replied Dick bitterly. "I told her that he would never see her as more than his protégé, and she got mad at me."

"So…?"

"So she still gets a bit picky around me now a days and with that last comment about you she probably means that I should stick to my choice."

This was all very awkward for Zatanna, there was just no room for a sharp remark. She just didn't know what to say, and what she could think of sounded all stupid in her head, so instead she asked him:

"You sure you want me to stay with this mission?"

Dick gave her an surprised look, but replied:" I'm still afraid that I might bring you in danger, but I have to accept that you are in this gig too and that you can handle yourself." He gave her a smile and Zatanna returned it.

"I'm glad to hear that." She said. "So, any idea where we can find something to eat?"

"Not really, how hungry are you?"

"Pretty hungry."

"Then we have this lunch café here." Dick said and he walked straight to a little building across the street. The café was brightly lit by the midday sun and in the air hung a welcoming smell of bread and coffee. At either side of the inner walls were lined with little tables, each allowed four people to sit down together. Zatanna gladly got out of her coat and sat down at the table on the right side of the counter, furthest from the door. She took the menu from its stand on the table to have a look. The shop had breakfast, lunch and dinner, but only the menu for lunch was available now. That was quite a shame, because Zatanna knew this would probably be the only meal she could have today. Of course she could handle it, but it would be nice to have a little more than just a sandwich in her stomach before she got into a mission.

"What's the plan for tonight?" she therefor asked, "are you planning to have dinner or do I have to order a really big sandwich?" She joked about it a little, but she still thought it best to ask, this was Dick's way of doing things after all.

Dick laughed. "Don't worry, I was pretty spoiled when I was a kid, so I won't live on one meal a day. We will eat in the warehouse tonight. I just thought it nice to go out for lunch."

Zatanna smiled and returned to the menu.

That night after a quick bite of pizza in their personal lair, Zatanna and Nightwing sat off to Lady Vic's mansion. Dick insisted that he took the part of the mansion where she would most likely be, if she was at home. Zatanna didn't argue, she was not a hot head like Artemis. This wasn't about strength or glory, Lady Vic was not your average killer for hire, she was skilled in many fighting technics and Zatanna knew nothing of that sort. No, she would stay on the western side and have a look in the West-wing and she would only contact him when she was in trouble or found something. These were their agreements and now it was show-time.

"See you later." Said Zatanna when they stood in the mansion's quiet courtyard. "kaolc em." And she disappeared.

Nightwing nodded. "Stay safe." He said before he himself disappeared, in his own way.

"Worry ward." Muttered Zatanna after him, then she walked to the west side of the building and looked up to see a large balcony. "Etativel." She shot up into the air and up the balcony. She tip toed to the closed window and pointed her magic wand at it. "Wodniw nepo." She hoped the window would open silently and it really relieved her when it did. It was pretty strange to go after someone else's foe and Zatanna found herself being a little nervous to screw it up. It was not like she never faced enemies from other city's before while she fought with The Justice League, but it felt like she was filling in for someone at an unknown job.

"Pull yourself together, Ze, you're doing fine." She told herself softly as she tried to make out anything in the dark room she had entered. "Thgil eht ssenkrad."  
A little flame sprouted from her index finger. With her little light lit, she started to move about the room. It was round like most towers and very clean, considering all the junk that was piled in it. It all was priceless, like sets of delicate china and golden embroidered carpets and big beautiful mirrors and paintings. One painting caught Zatanna's eye, it was a painting of a pretty lady in a baby-blue gown. Even though Lady Vic's mask concealed her face, her hair was obviously blonde, just like this lady's.

"To think that a rich lady like her needs such an extreme hobby." Muttered Zatanna to the painting. She then moved on to look in every box on closets, chests and tables. She opened every door and lifted every lid, but found nothing. Zatanna began to give up and thought of looking in a different room, when something on a low table struck her as familiar. When she bent over the table and lid it with her little light, she saw that it was a map drawn on a piece of paper. The map of the secret Zatara mansion.

'This is bad, no one is supposed to know about that place.' Zatanna was shocked and she felt panic closing in, but she had to stay calm and think things through. She wanted to take the map, but then Lady Vic would know that somebody had been here. "Emak a ypoc." She whispered and waved with her wand, a second map appeared and she took that for her own. She then took out the goggles she got from Nightwing and looked at the map. There were indeed fingerprints, a lot of them.

'I hope that this thing has a memory or something, because I can't take it with me.' She just had thought this when she heard footsteps on the stairs outside the door.

"Emak ym seohs sseldnuos." Zatanna whispered to make sure she wouldn't be heard and she dashed between the low table and a closet and made herself as flat as possible against the wall.

The door opened and a huge man stepped into the room. He was dressed very formal and Zatanna guessed that he was the butler, even though it would make a lot more sense if he was a bodyguard.

"Hullo, anyone here?" the mad called politely into the room. He turned on the lights and moved further into the room. "You better show, I warn you I am armed."

Zatanna held her breath, she was glad to know that her magic cloak concealed her flame as well. She wished the man would leave as soon as he found the room empty, but he didn't. the man frowned and walked further and reached out his arms like a blind man and felt every wall he passed.

'This is not good.' Zatanna thought, wedged between the table and the wall. She was trapped.


	8. Difficulties

Difficulties

'What now?' Zatanna thought. It would be a matter of time before that big man would find her. Did he hear her chant before he entered the room? Or did someone tip her of? Nightwing would never let something slip to the wrong ears, but the people in this house might know of her presence and magic thanks to her own slip up. She could create a diversion, but then she would have to speak.

No, there were no more options! She waited until the man had walked to the other side of the tower, then she whispered: "ekoms dna srorrim,etaerc a noisrevid."

A shadow appeared by the window and made to escape to the balcony. The man followed it fast, but when the diversion jumped off the balcony the man didn't follow like Zatanna had hoped. She had spoken after all and this butler was not stupid. The sound of her voice had come from the opposite direction. The man turned around and walked straight towards the little table with its little map, but by the time the man had reached her hiding place Zatanna had already left. Silently she ran to the window which the man had left open.

"I Warn you!" Bellowed the man and he took out his pistol from inside his neat jacket and started to fire into all direction, shattering priceless china all over the place and ripping expansive tapestries apart.

Zatanna grimaced. 'Thanks a lot smart-ass, you just helped me escape.' She jumped onto the balcony and climbed on the railing. "etativel!" she said and off she was.

Once she touched solid ground she hid herself behind a high hedge and took off her invincibility cloak. "Nightwing, can you hear me?" first she tried to contact him with her ear-phones, but he didn't answer. "Right, plan B." she placed her index fingers upon her temples, but just she wanted to utter her spell she heard low growling behind her.

"Oh crap." Breathed Zatanna as three large guard dogs advanced on her with their sharp teeth bared. Dogs always made her nervous, she was not used to large animals and dogs were always too active for her taste. "Skraps!" she said and her little flame disappeared to make place for a fountain of sparks beams and stars.

"Fetch!" she said, but the dogs were not fooled and kept their eyes on their intruder. Zatanna had to think fast now. Her cloak wouldn't work either, the dogs would still be able to smell and hear her. To levitate herself into the air would only anger them, they would bark at her like she was a squirrel in a tree and wake everyone in the mansion. Then she thought of something.

"Evom!" she said and she moved her hands away from her, like she was pushing something away. She was like a mime pushing against an invincible wall, only this wall was in fact very solid and it moved away from her at the movement of her hands. The wall hit the dogs and pushed them backwards. The animals rolled over and gave immediately in to their instinct and ran away.

Now that her way had cleared Zatanna changed her mind. She had to go back and collect that map. She could replace it with the one she had created. So she cloaked herself once more and used her levitate spell to get her up to the balcony. The room was dark again and the window was shut. The butler had locked it out of precaution. There was a chance that he might still be there in the room, waiting in the shadows, but that was a worry for later.

"kcolnu siht kcol." There was a click and the doors of the window opened inwards, into the room. No need for light this time, she knew were to go. The spell on her shoes did still function and silently she walked to the little table. She stooped and took the map and tucked it safely into her belt pouch and replaced it with her copy.

'Phew, that's that.' Zatanna thought and she turned to leave, but never let your guard down before you are safely away from enemy lines.

"Zatanna get out of there, they are coming your way!" Said Nightwing's voice suddenly over her earphone. "You have to go, I know who Lady Vic's employer is."

A door banged open behind her. There was indeed no need for her to stay, so she made immediately for the window, jumping up and down tables that stood in her way. She barely reached the window when something rope-like got hold of her left ankle. She was jerked back so violently that she crashed against a set of drawers and hit the ground hard.

How could she have failed? She had the cloak and her feet made no sound!

"No need for that cloak, sweetie. I can see you just fine." Sneered a woman's voice behind her.

Zatanna tasted blood, the sharp edges of the drawer had cut open her cheek. When she tried to move she saw stars and it took all her concentration to pull herself together. Her cloak vanished, but it wasn't of much use anyway, Lady Vic must have had heat-vision installed in her mask.

With afford Zatanna turned around on the floor, so that she could see her opponent.

"There you are, my pretty burglar. " Said Lady Vic. Zatanna saw her standing over her, just inside the room. In her right hand she held the handle of a thick whip which end had coiled itself around her ankle. With a strong movement, she jerked it back and Zatanna got dragged over the floor and halted at the lady's feet. The masked woman stooped and grabbed Zatanna by her hair and lifted her from the ground. It was like every hair on her head had turned into a sharp needle, stabbing into her skull and Zatanna let out a scream of pain. Lady Vic brought her face close to hers and Zatanna could see the malevolent glow in lady Vic's eyes behind the tiny slits in her mask.

"So Nightwing took you on as his little helper. How very unlike him, but what do I care." Lady Vic said softly. "I might not know much about your abilities, but my employer does and trust me when I tell you that I love to learn new ways to eliminate."

This woman was not kidding! 'But,' Zatanna thought,' first she would have to learn on the job.'

"Ekil a lee ll'I eb." Like silk her hair slipped through Lady Vic's fingers and the whip fell useless off her ankle. 'Hmpf, and I once wondered what the use of this spell was.' Though Zatanna amused.

"Oh no you don't!" screamed Lady Vic and with a swift movement she threw a dagger at Zatanna.

"M'I rebbur, ruoy eulg!" The dagger changed direction and aimed for its thrower. Lady Vic was extremely surprised, but still she managed to duck in time and the dagger pierced the wall behind her. That was an old spell, but it still worked like a charm. Now it was time to take the offence.

"Bring it on, I brought my own whip." Zatanna said and she charmed her wand to become her own invisible whip of wind, like she had down in the warehouse. She let the whip hit the floor hard to demonstrate its existence. Lady Vic might be fearless and a genius in combat, but Zatanna's trick had clearly surprised her and Zatanna wasted no time in using this as her advantage. She disarmed her opponent with one blow and with her second blow she struck her in the face and Lady Vic fell on the ground. This was Zatanna 's chance. "Shinav." She said to the copy on the table and it disappeared. Now, she was the only one who had the one and only map to her family secrets.

Her work was done, now she only had to find Nightwing. She sprinted to the door and jumped over Lady Vic, who she gave another kick to the head as she went, to make sure that she would stay down. 'Now I have to be quick, if the rumours about Lady Vic are true then she will be at my heels in no time.' She jumped over the landing and hurried down the spiral staircase. Her silent-shoes were not needed, the steps were covered by a thick carpet. She met another landing and a second staircase, it seemed to go on forever and because of her crash-landing, Zatanna was not in top form, but she managed to emerge into a large hall on the second floor before she heard any signs of pursuit. Even though her legs were sore, this was too easy. But then, someone grabbed her from behind by the collar of her jacket. Zatanna got dragged into the darkness of a shadowy corner. Her captor immediately tight a rag over her mouth and tight her arms strongly against her body with a strong rope. She couldn't speak or move! Almost out of shock, she had dropped her wand, but luckily she didn't and she stuffed it safely into her right sleeve. The first thing her father ever taught her was to never let go of her wand, even though she could use magic without it and she was going to stick to that!

'Now what? I can't speak, how can I contact Nightwing now?' she thought panicking. With all she got she kicked at her captor. Eventually she hit him hard and she could jump away from him, but still she was in quite a pickle.

'Nightwing, Dick, please can you hear me?' she thought desperately. If her teleport spell worked without an incantation, maybe she could reach Nightwing after all. Zatanna had little faith in it, but still she tried, it was the only thing she could do. 'Dick, please come!'

"Zatanna!"

Zatanna looked to her right and saw Nightwing running up a broad staircase that led to the level below. When he reached the second floor, he jumped up and dived right at the mysterious man in the corner. Zatanna heard a few quick and powerful hits and someone was tossed into the moonlight, which shone from a big window opposite the stairs. It was Ra's Al Guhl.

**AN: Sigh, finally I put it together! Sorry, I had a terrible writers block, but I'm back. I hope you like this chapter. Please review!**


	9. Voiceless

Voiceless

Ra's Al Guhl came to his feet and drew his long thin sword, which he carried at his left hip. His face had a harsh expression, as always.

"What's the matter Ra's, do you have to sneak in the shadows to overpower your opponents?" Nightwing laughed as he too stepped into the light and released his portable Bo staff in its full length.

"Please, do not pretend like you know how to behave." Ra's Al Guhl sneered. "Batman hasn't taught you any manners, but what can you expect from someone who lives in a cave. You're all inexcusable savages who do not deserve this world!"

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of his Lazarus pit." Nightwing joked.

"Now, what have you done with my assistant? I rather have her to play with you." Ra's Al Guhl said. He stepped back and calmly put his sword away, mocking Nightwing's presence. But Nightwing would make him regret that.

"Hah, wrong move!" he said and he ran towards him, ready to strike. It would have been a good move. First he would hit his opponent with his staff and draw his attention to his left, then he would tackle him with his right foot and disarm him. But Ra's Al Guhl knew what he was doing, he took one more step backwards and ducked to avoid Nightwing's staff and struck him hard in his stomach.

Zatanna saw Nightwing bent over from the shock of the hit. Ra's Al Guhl hit him hard on the back and Nightwing fell to the ground and there he stayed down. Ra's Al Guhl turned his back on him and walked towards Zatanna, who could do nothing else but quickly step backwards. If Nightwing didn't stand up soon, what hope could she have? She was not strong enough to break herself free from these ropes and without her voice, her spells were useless. She knew it wouldn't help to kick him once more, he had the upper hand and would make her pay for anything she did to him.

"Forgive my manners, Zatanna Zatara." He said to her and he bowed before her. "I would like it much better to let you tell me all your family's secrets, but I just can't have you using your spells and freeing yourself. If only you could conjure a spell without speaking, but even Zatara or Dr. Fate can't do that and you're nothing compared to them." He gave her an evil smile and reached out a to her belt pouch. "I believe you took my map and now I want it back." He took hold of her belt and untied its buckles. The ropes cut into Zatanna's pulses as she grabbed her belt to prevent Ra's Al Guhl from taking it. She had little strength in her hands, thanks to the tight rope blocking her wrists, but she did all she could.

'He can't have this map!' she kept thinking, but slowly the belt began to slip through her fingers. 'No, no!' Zatanna felt beads of sweat drip down from her temple as she gave it her all. The rope cut even deeper in her flesh, but she couldn't let go, too much depended on it.

Quite suddenly smoke began to rise quickly and soon it filled the whole hall. It caught Ra's Al Guhl off guard and he let go off the belt and Zatanna almost lost her balance, but managed to stay on her feet. Ra's Al Guhl began to cough violently and he had no longer interest in her. He turned around, to look for the fogs source, but it was getting too thick and not Ra's Al Guhl nor Zatanna was able to see anything. The gag in Zatanna's mouth was preventing her from breathing the unknown gas, but it made her eyes water and because her nose was unprotected, she began to feel woozy. 'What has happened?' She wondered. Then she heard the identifying, ringing laughter of Nightwing. He was alright and had caused the diversion while Ra's Al Guhl's eyes were on Zatanna. But where was he? Zatanna could just see the outline of Ra's Al Guhl, moving away from her in search for Nightwing. The laughter echoed from all four walls of the hall and so neither of them knew where Nightwing was and the fog was also getting thicker.

Zatanna tried her best to use her hearing to know what was going on. It was hard to hear anything apart from the echoing laughter, but she could identify a metallic sound of a cable being shot into the air. It hit glass and broke through it, then it clung on to something. The sound had been very close and she was certain Ra's Al Guhl, who she had seen moving away from her, had not heard it. But she couldn't see any silhouettes nearby, it was like she was left alone in the mist. This thought scared her heavily, but she could still hear Nightwing's laughter. 'Where are you?' she thought desperately. Zatanna wheeled around on her heels in vain, for she knew she wouldn't be able to see anything else then dark grey colours.

BANG!

Something heavy fell on the ground, just behind Zatanna and it knocked her off her feet. It soon became clear what or who had hit her. Ra's Al Guhl had sneaked up behind her, attempting to take

her as his hostage to clear his escape when suddenly Nightwing showed up and knocked him out.

Zatanna was helped on her feet. She still couldn't see the man who was standing before her, but she knew his touch all too well. Nightwing let her take a few steps, then he gently grabbed her around her waist and pulled her close to him. Zatanna was so overwhelmed to feel his body heat and to know that he was there to safe her. She didn't even care that she wasn't supposed to be the damsel in distress. They went up and Zatanna heard the metallic sound again. Soon she smelled the sweet cold air again and her vision began to clear. They emerged on the flat roof that connected the two towers. Nightwing let her stand on the rooftop and took off the protection mask he had worn against the gas, then he began to untie Zatanna and removed the gag from her mouth.

"Thanks." Zatanna said gratefully and without any further ado she took his hand and pointed with her free hand at their feet. "Etativel su htob." She said and a large circle, existing out of ancient symbols appeared under their feet and carried them through the air. Away from the mansion.

"I'll take us to that forest up ahead, under the cover of the trees I can teleport us to Blὕdhaven."

"Good." Nightwing agreed.

"I guess you didn't need me after all to discover for whom Lady Vic was working." Zatanna sighed. "I should have taken the map at once instead of replacing it first. Maybe we wouldn't have been in this mess."

"If you had taken the map and someone had noticed it gone, Lady Vic would have been more desperate to take it back when she confronted you, and therefore more deadly. By replacing it first, you caught her off guard, it was a good move." Nightwing looked at her and gave her a smile and Zatanna returned it briefly before she darkened her features with a frown.

"And now we know mostly what Ra's Al Guhl is after, the Zatara Family secrets." She said grimly. "This is bad, no one is supposed to know about that secret mansion apart from the members of my family. I don't know how Ra's Al Guhl came to know about my father's secrets, but they must not fall into the wrong hands, that would be catastrophic. Personally, I don't understand, I thought Ra's Al Guhl's interests lay in science."

They reached the ground at the edge of the forest and the circle under their feet disappeared. Quickly they hid themselves behind a pair of thick oak trees and Zatanna teleported them back to Blὕdhaven. The magic portal opened inside the warehouse and for a moment it was pitch black, but Nightwing knew his way around the pace and quickly found the light-switch. He then wasted no time in hanging about and sat down at their 'brainstorm-table' and ran with both hands through his hair, like he always did when he tried to tie loose ends together.

"Esrever eth ecalper lleps." Zatanna said and while he sat there, Nightwing became Dick Grayson and she wore her pair of jeans and sweater again.

"You're right." Dick said slowly and he looked at her. "Up till now, Ra's Al Guhl had always his mind set on science, but that could have changed. The real question is why he hired Lady Vic, she normally deals with drug dealers and secret societies and knows nothing of magic."

"It's true, she said so herself when she confronted me, but she also said that Ra's Al Guhl knew and that he would fill her in. It is possible that he learned some things from Wotan or Klarion." Zatanna said and she took the seat opposite him.

"Maybe." Dick said thoughtfully. "Our investigation has just begun, this is just the tip of the iceberg, but our mission wasn't pointless. We learned who hired Lady Vic and we know where to expect their next move."

"I guess I have no choice but to take you into the family's mansion. We have the map, but it is possible that Ra's Al Guhl knows how to get there. The mansion is protected in some way. The magical objects are also its guardians and they know evil when it enters. I also have to prove to them that you have no evil intentions."

"Any idea what Ra's Al Guhl might be after?" Dick asked, he had listened to Zatanna's story with a thoughtful frown on his face. This information was new and crucial to him and he wanted to know anything that could give them a head start.

Zatanna thought for a moment. "There's a lot of ancient knowledge stocked on the bookshelves. Ra's Al Guhl has some powerful allies who are already skilled in the mystic arts, maybe he wants to sell them that knowledge or learn from it himself and with their help gain a new way of power. Among the items are object that can inflict terrible danger, but to break through their security, you have to be a powerful sorcerer and Ra's Al Guhl doesn't qualify for that nor can he bring one into the mansion. No, if I had to guess I'd say it's the knowledge he's after."

"How quickly do you think they will act?" Dick asked, still with his hands in his hair.

"Soon, very soon." Zatanna replied grimly.

While Dick and Zatanna tried to figure things out about the coming threat and discussed their options, some grim plans were made at the March-Morton mansion. In the largest drawing room, the old fashioned candles caused ominous shadows on the carpeted walls, while Ra's Al Guhl paced up and down the room. His new-found partner, the mistress of the house, was watching him slowly. Lady March-Morton was no longer dressed like an assassin, but wore an elegant emerald green dress with matching jewellery. Her butler had just brought them tea, but Ra's Al Guhl let his drink go cold. He was furious and impatient.

"It is fortunate that I already know where to find the secret mansion," He said with a controlled voice. "but without the map we cannot find our way in there and we have no time to search the whole mansion."

"Then please, let me go alone." Lady Vic suggested. "I'm used to time limits and I can handle anything that place might throw at me."

Ra's Al Guhl stopped pacing and looked at her. "That is an idea," he said frowning. "but be cautious, that place is very treacherous and you can't afford to get lost. You have also a good chance to meet little miss Zatanna. You can kill her, I have no need for her. I know that you are inexperienced with magic, but simply prevent her from speaking and she is helpless."

Lady Vic nodded and her lips curled into a sadistic smile.

**AN: I hope you guys are excited! I sure am! Please review and wait for the next chapter. :)**


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